While Khaanachahiye was setting up processes, routes, supply chains, onboarding volunteers(called ninja warriors), they had to also figure out a way to ensure they are able to sustain operations financially in order to ensure that they can consistently feed people they are supporting.

Ruben Mascarenhas and Pathik Muni from  Khaanachahiye.com have been managing a tight ship of highly capable and efficient people who have come together for this cause. Further, the operations were divided into Supply & Distribution, Communication & Fundraising and HR & Accounts. In the very beginning, they quickly identified core team members: Neeti Goel, Mazher, Manoj, Pranav Rungta who could handle different aspects of this humongous operation. By dividing the roles & responsibilities and delegating efficiently they were able to scale up very quickly. The need in each and every leg of the operations was identified early on. Subsequently, the need to fundraise was also identified very early on.

Fundraising communication

For fundraising to happen smoothly, one needs to create awareness about the work being done. This is where Swaraj Shetty who has more than 15 years experience as a digital strategist came in. Swaraj, Ruben and Pathik worked in tandem to spread awareness and to get few collaborations going. They completely spearheaded the effort to spread awareness about the cause and fundraising. Shishir Joshi from Project Mumbai worked in tandem with Khaanachahiye.com to raise funds initially. This was the first collaboration. As Shishir spread the word about Khaanachahiye, friends and acquaintances happily donated to the cause. These three also felt the need for crowdfunding and collaborated with Efforts For Good team, to start a campaign and to spread the word. Efforts For Good team, observed all the work being done by Khaanachahiye.com and started the fundraising campaign. You can check out the campaign and donate here.

As the Indian summer is slowly gathering pace, the need for dry snacks for children was felt. Ruben reached out to Ms Amita Chauhan in Parle G to help procure biscuits for children. Parle G came forward and started giving thousands of Parle G biscuits on a consistent basis to Khaanachahiye.com. Thus, a collaboration with Parle G was stuck. Similarly many individuals came forward to give thousands of bananas for children. Volunteers distribute these bananas and biscuits to children, pregnant women and old people along the routes.

Sapna Bhavnani, popular hair stylist and film maker who is also a ground volunteer of Khaana Chahiye and her production company Akbar Pains created creative concepts and videos for Khaana Chahiye.

The Art Care Project was a collaboration wherein architecture students in Juhu are giving their time by sketching for anyone who donates.

Apni Public Project started making avatars and making the ninja warriors(volunteers) look very cool. Subodh Chaubey and Imran Khan are advertising professionals who came up with this idea.

Stage.in is an artist community which shared poems in the form of videos and creatives to amplify the campaign

Rohit  Dsa volunteer wrote a rap to spread the word.

The restuarant Door No 1 did 2 live music shows on Instagram and donated 75% of their proceeds to Khaanachahiye.com.

25% of the proceeds will be given to the artist & the balance 75% will be given to https://t.co/YPd2DnCU9S.
An initiative by Project Mumbai who provide meals to migrant workers, the homeless and underprivileged residents of slums and chawls, who are waiting endlessly for normalcy

— Door No.1 – The Retro Bar & Kitchen (@DoorNo1Bar) April 7, 2020

These collaborations helped people become a part of the movement. It also helped in people becoming volunteers themselves apart from donating in cash and kind.

Apart from these collaborations several social media influencers and celebrities raised awareness about the cause and helped in raising much-needed funds and volunteers for the cause.

If you are in Mumbai and want to make a difference, here is ONE way:https://t.co/qRaO4CE2Cv

They service around 40,000+ meals a day and have seviced 2,40,000+ meals till date to those in extreme need with a focus on daily wage labourers, migrant workers and the homeless.

— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) April 12, 2020

Due to these collaborations word spread about the work that is being done and they have been able to gather a lot of support. It has also received support from government and local BMC officials and it helped them expand their reach and impact.

Congratulations on the wonderful work you all are doing. https://t.co/HgFXozWG0t

— Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) May 18, 2020

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This amazing organisation has dished out over 2.5 million meals since lockdown began. If you are looking for a way to support the most vulnerable during this time, please take a look at their selfless work and reach out to know more. #AThoughtforFood #khanachahiye Repost from @khaana_chahiye using @RepostRegramApp – #KhaanaChahiye Update – 22 lakh meals served till date to those in extreme need in and around Mumbai. (15th May) Powered by #khaanachahiye volunteers, partners, supporters and the city of #mumbai 🙏 Website : KhaanaChahiye.com Crowdfund Bit.ly/1lakhmeals #StoriesBehindTheMask #MumbaiFightsCovid19

A post shared by lisaraniray (@lisaraniray) on May 17, 2020 at 8:44pm PDT

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We salute the goldenhearted who are #fightinghunger in these troubled times. Admiration for standalone restaurant owners #Keiba #MadrasDiaries #Ostaad who are reaching out to fight hunger. #NeetiGoel #AnekaGoel #Rubenmasc of @khaana_chahiye Instagram are working round the clock to feed the 5 lakh people on the street and many more daily-wage workers out of job, starvation is as much a threat as Corona. Project #KhaanaChahiye is fighting hunger in Mumbai. 170000 + meals served already. Join the fight KhaanaChahiye.com Hats off to the super efficient team rubenmasc, pathik.muni Goel.neeti Madras.diaries From serving 1200 meals a day on 29 March to 40000 meals a day , it has been a phenomenal journey !!! Also special shout out to Neeti Goel for serving our brave firemen 1200 meals daily in these trying time’s Lets Join Team @khaana_chahiye as they fight hunger in Mumbai Swipe up Link: To donate https://effortsforgood.org/campaign/community/khaana-chahiye-hunger-in-the-times-of-corona/ @goel.neeti @nimeshadvani @mojokaur @aneka_goel @supsawitch @rubenmasc @swaraj1983 @imran_khatri @lowkashwala @sapnamotibhavnani @munafkapadia @getmur @ekchiriya @lats_insta @elsamarie_ds @saviojoseph29 @mazher @akbarpains_pictures #madrasdiaries #servingmeals #meals #socialservice #service #fightinghunger #ostaad #khaanachahie #quarantinelife #quarantined

A post shared by @ rashmiudaysingh on Apr 11, 2020 at 5:06am PDT

Apart from this, the entire team of Khaanachahiye.com and all the volunteers reached out to friends, acquaintances, family members etc., to spread awareness. Each and every volunteer worked for this cause as if their life depended on it and not someone else’s. Swaraj spends over 15 hours monitoring the communication to ensure that in all the channels there is no communication breakdown between the volunteers and with people engaging with Khaanachahiye on social media .

Volunteers who are essentially handling supply, demand and packaging have started micro-campaigns on their own to bring more financial support as well as to get more volunteers. As the word spread, the campaign grew more organically and more and more people started associating themselves with the cause. Read more about the humongous effort by volunteers and volunteer management in our next article.